Stars
by DragonGecko18
Summary: One Shot: Sometimes we have to hurt the ones closest to us, in order to show them that we love them.


Stirring through the pasta in the pot, Jenny Shepard closed her eyes. She was exhausted. The medications that Ducky had given her were so strong that they literally knocked her out at night. It wasn't fun being sick, particularly when you had to try your best to convince everybody that you were okay.

McKenzie Gibbs walked into the kitchen holding some bubble mixture that Tony DiNozzo had given her for her seventh birthday. Jenny had no idea what had her daughter so intrigued by bubbles and everything to do with nature. She absolutely loved it. Perhaps it was Abby's fault for teaching the mini redhead all about science.

"Mommy." McKenzie asked calmly. Jenny glanced over at the little girl standing by the back door. "Come watch me blow bubbles." It was so innocent the way she said it.

Jenny shook her head and pointed to the oven. "I'm cooking dinner baby girl. Soon." McKenzie's straight nose scrunched up and her eyes squinted into a glare that Jenny recognised so well. She had inherited her father's expressions and his attitude.

"But Mommy! It's getting dark and we won't be able to see them!" Jenny tilted her head and sighed. Lately, McKenzie had been testing the boundaries and it was only irritating her mother more and more. Thankfully she'd be off to her father's house in a couple days.

"McKenzie. Please Listen to me." Jenny said calmly. "Dinners not far away. You can wait."

"But I don't want to wait!" McKenzie retorted. Jenny watched as the little girl slid the back door open and popped outside. Whenever she wanted to do something, she had to do it and that was that.

Every day that Jenny woke up and saw her daughter, her heart physically hurt. She was an exact copy of Jenny, but everything she did and everything she said was so much like her father. Jenny didn't have the heart to tell her that her own mother would be dead within the next year and it was literally killing Jenny from the inside out.

She hadn't told Jethro, although she was pretty sure that he'd figured out what was going by now. Not having the energy to walk outside and lecture her daughter, Jenny left McKenzie alone. She was very capable of looking after herself. Besides, Jenny could keep an eye on the girl from the window in the kitchen.

As Jenny scooped the pasta into the bowls along with the mince, she thought about what life would be like for her daughter in a years' time. She hoped that Jethro would look after her well and put her before everything else- not that he hadn't already done that. That little girl had always been the apple in his eye.

Jenny called McKenzie's name for dinner and the girl came sprinting inside to collect her food. Jenny couldn't hate her daughter for long, she always seemed to do something 'cute' or funny that caught her mothers attention and made her forget about what the little girl did to get into trouble. "Manners." She lectured.

"Thankyou mommy." McKenzie said gratefully as she took the bowl. "Can we sit outside? Please?"

"Its cold outside. No."

"Mom, you can see the stars though. Look!" McKenzie pointed to the stars that were beginning to show their shine as the sun set.

"McKenzie… I won't ask again." Jenny said dangerously quiet. "Sit down and eat your dinner at the table please." The little girl didn't even bother fighting Jenny when it came to meal times as she knew her mother could easily take away her plate; McKenzie hated going to bed feeling hungry.

Once the two girls had finished eating their dinner, McKenzie literally dragged her mother outside to watch the stars. Jenny had no energy to fight and willingly let her daughter drag her out the door and onto the grass.

"Lie down mommy!" McKenzie shouted. Jenny did as she was told and looked up to the shining stars in the sky. They were so vibrant and so sparkly. "Doesn't it look so pretty!"

"They do." Jenny said in agreement. "Has Abby been teaching you about stars?"

"Oh, some days she does. We are learning about space in school at the moment." McKenzie answered. Jenny watched as the little girl opened up her bubbles and began to blow.

"You enjoy learning about space?"

"Oh yeah! Its so fascinating mommy. I'd like to be an astronaut one day to see what it's like up there."

"Really?" Jenny said fascinated. "The other day you said you wanted to be like papa."

"I changed my mind." McKenzie said happily. "Papa's job is pretty cool. But I think that being an astronaut would be cooler." Jenny smiled. McKenzie absolutely loved her papa. Friday afternoons were nicknamed 'Frilly Fridays' at NCIS. It was the specially allocated time McKenzie was allowed after school to visit the agency.

Jenny sat up so that she was sitting on the grass with her legs in a pretzel. She motioned for her daughter to come and sit on her lap. McKenzie didn't hesitate and sat in her mothers lap. Jenny wrapped her arms around her daughter and breathed in her scent. She didn't particularly want to tell her daughter that she was sick, in fact Jenny would rather just pass away unannounced. It would be easier on her daughter- with it being over so quickly.

"Mommy why do you do that?" McKenzie asked innocently as if the act of breathing in someone's scent was weird. Jenny laughed and squeezed the girl closer to her.

"Its an act of love." Jenny said tiredly.

"But I haven't had a shower since yesterday. I'm all smelly." Jenny smiled.

"I don't care. You still smell nice to me."

"I probably smell like papa. He's always smelly." This caused both girls to laugh. Once the laughing had quieted down, Jenny turned her daughter in her lap and looked into her emerald eyes in the moonlight.

"I have something very important to tell you." Jenny said solemnly. McKenzie's ears perked up while Jenny thought about how to tell her daughter what she was going to tell her.

"Go on mommy…" McKenzie encouraged. Jenny felt tears pooling at the corners of her eyes. She wasn't sure she'd be able to do it.

"Mommy has… Mommy is a little sick…" Jenny said sadly.

"What kind of sick? Like a sore throat sick?" McKenzie asked innocently. Jenny shook her head and traced her daughters face with her hand.

"No baby girl. My whole body is sick…" Jenny watched as her daughter processed her words and snuggled closer to body.

"But you can get better right?" A tear fell from Jenny's eye. "You could take a bath and feel better."

"The doctors have tried to make me better. But sometimes… people aren't meant to get better baby." Jenny's voice was beginning to croak. McKenzie's brow furrowed.

"You mean that you are going to go to heaven like Kate and grandpa and sister Kelly and Miss Shannon?" McKenzie asked with tears pooling in her eyes.

Jenny nodded and caressed her daughters hair. "Yeah baby girl…"

"Mommy… You can't go to heaven though. You have to stay here on earth." McKenzie said with the trails of tears down her cheeks. Jenny's heart was aching, she shouldn't have told her.

Pulling her close to her body, Jenny consoled her crying daughter and rubbed comforting circles on her back. "Look up at those stars there…" Jenny pointed up to the starry sky. McKenzie looked up to the stars as Jenny wiped a tear from her cheek. "That's heaven up there. That's where Kate and Grandpa and Kelly are. Watching over us all."

McKenzie nodded and cuddled back into her mother. "But what about in the daytime, when there are no stars?" She asked concerned. Jenny smiled through all the tears and closed her eyes.

"The stars are still there baby… You just can't see them because its too bright."

"They only come out at night…" Jenny nodded.

"Listen… Papa is gonna take good care of you while I'm in heaven okay?" McKenzie nodded. "You can talk to me whenever you want… Just like you can talk to Kelly and Kate and I'll be listening."

"You'll watch over me mommy?" Jenny brushed her daughters hair through her hands.

"Always baby girl…"


End file.
